The NSA leaker has come forward in a June 9 interview on The Guardian, the British media outlet that broke the story of the NSA acquisition of phone records and access to online activity. Edward Snowden, a 29-year-old former technical assistant for the CIA, has come forward to identify himself as the NSA whistleblower being sought in the release of NSA files. He said he is not hiding because he has not done anything wrong.

Snowden is currently an employee of a defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, and he has previously worked for various others. This has put him inside the National Security Agency for the last four years.

The NSA leaker, aware that he would be facing the ire of the U.S. government, made the choice to sacrifice his comfortable life in Hawaii and $200,000 salary to make the public aware of the depth of the privacy infringements that he claims exist. He says he doesn't want to live in a society like that.

The NSA leaker was a former CIA tech assistant

"The government has granted itself power it is not entitled to. There is no public oversight. The result is people like myself have the latitude to go further than they are allowed to," he said.

The technology specialist is "holed up" in a motel in Hong Kong, basically waiting for the other shoe to drop.

He wrote a note that went with the second set of documents, according to The Guardian:

"I understand that I will be made to suffer for my actions," but "I will be satisfied if the federation of secret law, unequal pardon and irresistible executive powers that rule the world that I love are revealed even for an instant."

The head of NSA, James Clapper, has reported the leaks of the NSA documents as a crime. You can read about that here.

Agreed. He had numerous avenues for reporting what he believed to be illegal: Department Inspector General, Government Whistleblower hotline, possibly even a congressman or senator.

He decided to go to a foreign journalist instead.

Well, US Journalism isnt probably the highest respected around...plus he knew Obama and Holder have an eye on the press. Not the I agree with how he did his dirty work, but I can see where he would avoid US media

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Frazod to KC Nitwit..."Hey, I saw a picture of some dumpy bitch with a horrible ****tarded giant back tattoo and couldn't help but think of you." Simple, Pure, Perfect. 7/31/2013

Dave Lane: "I have donated more money to people in my life as an atheist that most churches ever will."

Remember Nawaf Alhazmi and Khalid Almihdhar? Of course not. They were only two of the 19 9-11 hijackers.

For a year and nine months after the CIA identified them as terrorists, Alhazmi and Almihdhar lived openly in the United States, using their real names, obtaining driver's licenses, opening bank accounts and enrolling in flight schools. On the morning of Sept. 11, they boarded American Airlines Flight 77, and crashed it into the Pentagon.

Prior to that day of infamy, Almihdhar's visa expired, and the State Department issued him a new one in July 2001, even though the CIA had linked him to one of the suspected bombers of the USS Cole in Yemen in October 2000.

The CIA, the FBI, the NSA, the this, the that----

THEY ARE ALL INCOMPETENT HACKS.

They don't care about doing their jobs or protecting you from "bad guys".

Instead they use their power to ATTACK AND CRIMINILIZE YOU.

Nothing has changed for the better since 9-11. It's just gotten worse. Alot worse.

Your deadliest enemy is the US State Department, the NSA, the FBI, the CIA ie THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.

Accept reality or not, you are in their sites. You think they were tapping phone lines all this time to prevent terrorist attacks? the FBI knew all about the Tsaernov brothers, just like the CIA knew all about Atta, Alhazmi and Almihdhar.

Didn't matter. What only matters is protecting the political class and rigging the system so they stay in power.

that hit like a ton of bricks, for sure. I am not sure of his accuracy in any of this, but I do know covert gov't missions are at an all time overload. I don't like sneaky behavior -- especially from my gov't. There are certainly times where sneaky is the right way, but when sneaky becomes SOP then it has come time to reveal/remove those weakasses in power.

How did you come to the conclusion that it was illegal? I'm serious--from what I've seen, it was within the law passed by Congress and was approved by the FISA court.

Doesn't mean you're 'ok' with it, but I'm just wondering what was illegal.

I came to the conclusion that it was illegal when I read the Fourth Amendment. I came to the conclusion that the Patriot Act was Illegal the same way. The fact that our government has written down words on paper and voted on illegal laws does not make them any less illegal.

I came to the conclusion that it was illegal when I read the Fourth Amendment. I came to the conclusion that the Patriot Act was Illegal the same way. The fact that our government has written down words on paper and voted on illegal laws does not make them any less illegal.

Or finding judges that say it's illegal. Can always find a rubber-stamping judge.